The Doobie Brothers - 1976

Longevity and Songwriting

It’s a bit of a favourite activity for me to look at hit songs from years ago and try to figure out why some of them fade quickly from the musical radar (“Disco Duck“, by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots, No. 1 in 1976), while others never make it to No. 1, but […]

Guitar mic

How to Invert a Chord, and When to Do That

A chord is 3 or more notes all sounding together. Those 3 notes form what we call a triad, and they are the bulk of the chords that get used in most songs written in any of the pop genres (rock, country, folk, etc.) As you know, there are lots of ways to modify triads. One of […]

Inverting Chords to Smooth Out the Bass Line

Chord inversions (“slash chord”) add forward motion and musical energy to a song. Here’s more. ______________   Looking for good songwriting content for your iPad, Kindle, laptop, desktop, or other PDF-reading device? “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” ebook bundle packages will show you why good songs are good, and how to apply those lessons to your own […]